So champagne is out and white rum is in, according to the Office for National Statistics. Surprising when you think of the number of cut-price offers on bubbly we see every time there's a big occasion like Christmas or Mother's Day.

On the other hand, look at the price of rum – and the number of cocktails you can make with it. You can buy a bottle of white rum in Asda for under a tenner: enough to make 14 cocktails rather than the six glasses a bottle of champagne will give you.

The rum revival is nothing new, of course. As the spirit on which such sexy drinks as mojitos and daquiris are based, it is a standard buy for most home drinks cupboards. That said, if anything the statisticians should have selected spiced rum, which helped brands such as Captain Morgan enjoy double-digit growth in the second half of last year.

Nevertheless, perhaps the ONS should have put prosecco in their shopping basket. Given how much that drink costs, it's probably far more likely consumers pop that in their trolleys than either champagne or rum of whatever colour.